Homeland
k H
ChiefT w h o l o g y SIw
U.S. De~arenlcatc Justice of
Justice Management Plivision
OCT 1 3 2Cb74
1tie Honorable Michael Crdllirgher Ass :,tan? Secrekary for Cnmriuueai br?s
a.rd Informahon ent oi Cczxm~r: 'biasblxigton, D C' 20233
: ; :I
1~equest >om ; ~ ~ s ~ s l a n c rild&ess iUireaT regulatory constrats dfecemg Department of Justlce xse to : c8fF:xed-SateiliteS W G ~(FSS)111 slipport of federal law enforcement acuvities. Specifically, the ~ 131ep~ment seeks regulatory parity wrr? non-Government FSS eat$ stat lot^ lacensees so that the esll's FSS earth ststlon frec!tLericyassignments are treated on a "cs-primary" basis for
nr.iter.ferencepurposes For exmple, the Depaa-memat has m;+d:*a substmbd invesment ~ r the Federal Bureau of Investigation's z (FE13's) Trilogy project, a I ect:ntly-dt:ployed nationwde data teleconxn~~l~catlons network This nemork connects 56 field oi"Fni-,es usin; C2ovemment-owned FSS eartl-r stations linking to comrnerc~al PSS space networks The FBI deke;sn:r;red that Government purchase ai'the earth sta'uons, rather than lease from comerc1d service prow lcrs l~censed the Federal C o m u c a t i o n s Comm~ssion by (FCC), was necessary to m n r a n c.>nwoi arid lccess to the network, as well as to i-cbievesignificant cost savings TfliroughTrilogy?tl-iti: FBI ihe capabiliq to rap~dly secmely transfer info~mation and law cat~onwlde suppofi its dr-crerseand e-:pand~ng enforcerneeit respons:bilities to
l3;i anangement with the FCC and 3% T1A. !.he Department applies to NTL4 for the use of FSS fieqencics and those freque~~cy assl,g~xrrelr& are entered illto the Gcverrsr~cnt Master File Because
FSS operate In a. comerc~czi bald i~r:erised ?he FCC, WTLA m&cs the ~xignments by subject to the
Z ~ e p a k ~ e a tnon-interft:remci: to pri-r~ity 's commercial users. Tlne Depament's FSS assignments have no regulatory status to yratecl Ulem from mmference from FCC licensees I other words, an ea~illier n FSS ,sslkmment to the DepMment tkai ruijports critical law enforcement and nat~onal security needs n u s t yidd to later comrnercl~l aqsigrtren~ Although Trilogy rs the Department's primary use of FSS c2.rtJ-1 s t a o n s it ourr~s, tsere nay be c\th?rneeds in the h t u 2 1mderstanld +hat other civrlian and r~aii~tlc'p. agencies thdt owc, rather than tease, FSS earth statlons are suwlar:y situated
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a ,I tmce to secure regulato;~ panty ic~ ~ FSS e a t h station i s ,ss;gnments so ~k;,at e y arc: reared c:, a to-primay" basis wrth other pl:rnary users of the band h
t 1 requssss y o u ~o~idera1113:i 5 s . t.,jilest at your earliest coai erxcncc. hlly p o ~ of contact on this cif !ss.i!e 1s M Mem Jo Cim~iitle, s LV~~eiecr P.$imagementOffice, 7.1322- 1bf$6or 03 1sdckg~: -
en1 1 olll,i inke your %
Sincerely,
800 Independence Ave S.W Wesh~ngton. C 20591 D
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?'is want to request. t h ough the 't,+tloilal Telecommuaicat~ons ~ mtl LYrfarmat~on kkhinistrat~on lTN2 L4], spectmnl )(!;ageprotecbon, and on-galng licensing support, Erom t:le Federal Ccsnlrn~nlcaf~ons Cornn~issaon (FCC) for the Federal Avkation Admin~stratlon (FAA) Alaskan N a l ~ o ~ l&brspac::3r1tefiacility Communicattorks System (ANICS) earth al station operations.
The FA 4 leisrs servic e horn satedB ie kervice provider, Arrowhead Global Solutions, to CBM ~~~ silpyort ,L\;NICS Vve e~I.~is~b: * T $ I : Y Csatellite s e n w e m Alaska to satisfy crihcal safety of fl~g$~t comnltznlc;itron sfrtlce reqlurements there Speclficn&l~,, 1994 we in purchaed and lrcensed 29 e m h stai~ons operation wiPtun the 1L";iICS system. fcr Subsequent1y7 w e pttrehased and ~f x e d in operation an addlrronal 13 stations, which -.,, iapr, oeen regstereti t b ? ~ t i & C hlhan The Alaskan Regon has voaced a requirement thc for an addlt~onai12 statlrrlqs. AB st ltlons have been properIgr coordirrated, including the I cnmplet~on s:te supveys~~ laandJysrs, and other general coorhnatmon of path
h t the i 560th P A C mect ing, S q t e ~ n ' o m 1994, the FCC W ' representative stated 27, C tlaat. the FCC Common Cxner E ~ x e a u \wo~!ld grant and ~ssur: wauvcx to protect the a operations of FAA ANIC'S c x t h ~;tat~onsAlaska. This public notace was never issued. in - h e FAA subsq~e13tiy cnnunm~~;a'i:dth:s need to the FCC in h e X 497 and 1998 time penods to no avail. WF t~r:ed@us spzchum usage protection fcu~ services provided by the these stations. A erttzca! Fiomt m t m e IS now approaching: all 39 csrignal llcenses will exprrc r n 2006, m we ha.v.e m onitn id gomg requirement for the service pr.avided by these extA atatrons. The F $24 already :l,lr; a sigruficant investment I earth stations. To go n trasoub a private vendor t o g l 1 ccrr.Clnued access to the comn~unicafror~ aa 1 semces through a lensed service ageemen: would p ace a large financial burden on tile FAA.
L+ c belleve that rile 5.4 . itsage csf';~;~n-davernment % spectrum: as stated above, 1s wholly cons~stenr with the ;'ete&.o~nnrurair:a1ions Pol~cy the I\flIA, as set forth in Sectloo 2 3.3 of ur the NThA Manual, which states i l i part: "The Federal Gove r v l ~ z n c e the p~vatt: on sector in p a r rdrng teiecornmunlcat~on services for ~ t own use. s
Ths r e e m that ail iuncii:~rlsnon;ii:(iy 3ssociated with providlrig tile service shall be prformed by thi: pncatc sector. ' i t ft~aher states "The Govrmrrzerit shall establish to jcprate cor~numcataon sdrelhtr sysrerns only when they arc sequ~red meet unique gc?vmment needs, or :ire o'Thsmi~~ requtred in the national interest."
I: xs nut unprecedented [hat q1ems:z allocated for the exc1us::;e use by the Federal Cbasvenment Q P the ilon Fsdeml C o \ f e m e n tis made available for tbe others use. For example, LoJack, a non-1;ederal sro en vehicle recovery system, operates in exclusive Federal Governlent s p c s r r u $I'LL: recju~ements access ti, a IrmiteJ amount of for s-pec!rtim, sn one geo*q;iphacarea, :31d for a single satellite system can be accommodated on a case-hy-case bd51s
Please curltact ,Mr. George M S k a r . D~rector, ATC Spectrum Englncenng Services, at 202) 267-9710 a yoix have any q~estroas. f
Sincerely,
'I
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Llceilnic and Atmospheric Administration
NATIONAL WEATYEFI SERVICE
1325 EasL-West H ~ g ~ , w a \
Stive- S p r ~ ~ ge r ~ l - i ~ i2rJbZC1-3283 M d
hk. Frccirick 7;Ve~ltbuld Associate A%rlstrator hatiold TeIecommnnrcar~c>ns: 1tsformtion A arid 1.101 Constitution Avenue. N W U-ahinglon, P1.C'. Slf ZJO
rratiora
I mw i t k g so sugpk?a7 proposals- c rxrrently under discussion &tween National stration (NTIA) and the Federal Telecormunicariom i ~ $ o m f;c rz A
C:~m&catiotas Cornmiss~on allaw~tg v e m e n t to opeme earth terminals accessing carmmercs stellite +systemson a pn6vrargi, protected bss in comerciad bands. Commercial ai satenfie usage poLcy from he Ma~tuskisf Regulations and Proceilwes for Federal Radio FIequency Mamgerrcnt sp,:cibical3~states. ""'IheGovernment sM1 eshblkh separate when they are required to meet unique government ccimunication systems O I ~ Y required ~ t the National interest." H o w l ~ e rconzmercial a , s ry;picallj ~1~N:rate bands not allocated to Goverrment satellite in q s t e m , and govemnent e : h tenax>& are forced to operate on a non-interference basis e\ en when using conlrnerck3l uteXLtc.2 in accordance with NTIA policy. The goal of avoiding co~ipetiticsn vvith h d u s r ~ often fr:siisLratedby agencies' need for operational control oftheir is rendered mrrs. avensive by the need to e%age contractors to license were the existuzg Federal operating procedure arad protection from ~lxerference an k\x.te not
Niiti~mi Ocem,opmpkic aril Rtmo:ql?enc A ation's VOAi) PJrzt~onal Weather Service W S ) has used ~ 9 , m r s i ; d dateate services for many years to rneet operational requirements f i r data &exninacio~ . A1 least two major programs - the International Satellite Conmnnicatiom Sysesn ad the lidiDIL4 Weather Wire Senice --rely o commercial m sa~ellites.Other programa s e eqbrrxlg use of communication $ilteUite systems as the most cc9se.-eflective and rexiable xic,~u~iun data dissemination, including an alerting network in fct~ srq7pod of the Tsunarm W a ~ C:erdcr, the National D k s b t i o n Nel~rork, the NOAA g and All i I m d Weather M i o With. itme data dissemination network pro.riding hazard wamitfgs i suppsfl ofkomelarxd scunity, a highly reliable and re-~orlfifigrarable n data feed to N%VSlocal transmitters b rrecessar3. < WS licensed its earth stations commercially to gain ' the protection fiom kterfererxce aidd riled our operational missha IiIowever, this solution snay no! be the most cost cgectixie sofurion and m y not provide %I1 giovonunent cofi~oUaccess ~ a e r rrequked fly 6he Department of HomeIwid S e c l ~ ~ r y . of ~~;
XCs,O,4's NiVS awuld seati4 appre@18ibe efforts in fz~cifitating your cost-eective and efficient use of ecennmescid sateEte neworks by the Government. If you have any questions, please contact David Fra~c, R%d~n g e c L Mmager, at 301-7 13-184 1 ~ 1 3 0 . S ~~
~ J " ) %McNulq, Jr. I~
? "
Xlirector, OEce of CBpratior~d Systems